(Photo courtesy of General Dynamics)The Mobile-built littoral combat ship Independence is seen during a round of sea trials in this file photo.

WASHINGTON — Today’s deadline for action on a military shipbuilding contract, which could bring 1,800 jobs to Mobile, has been extended to Dec. 30, the Navy announced Monday.

The 2-plus-week extension will give Congress more time to consider the Navy’s preferred plan to buy littoral combat ships from two vendors.

But not much more. Congress is scheduled to adjourn for the year on Friday.

The dual buy would mean estimated $5 billion LCS contracts for Austal USA’s Mobile shipyard and a Wisconsin facility working for Lockheed Martin Corp. Without congressional approval of the strategy, the Navy may have to revert to a previous winner-take-all plan.

"I welcome the news and believe the Navy has done a good job of adjusting to conditions on the ground," Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile, said in a written statement. "The two-week extension gives lawmakers more flexibility to finalize an LCS legislative strategy in this uncertain, lame-duck political environment."

Meanwhile, a bill that would extend bonds and tax credits offered as part of the Gulf Opportunity Zone, or GO Zone, legislation cleared a crucial hurdle in the U.S. Senate on Monday. The extension could make it easier to push the LCS dual-buy decision into 2011.

A package including the GO Zone extension and a bipartisan deal to extend the Bush tax cuts cleared the 60-vote threshold needed to prevent a Senate filibuster.

Senate approval could come as soon as tonight, after which the bill would head to the House.

GO Zone includes several tax benefits enacted by Congress to help the Gulf Coast recover from 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. The benefits are due to expire at year’s end, but advocates have said an extension is needed to help the area recover from the summer’s massive oil spill.

Austal has reserved $140 million of these bonds to finance improvements to its Mobile shipyard, which would need to roughly double in size to handle the new LCS work.

Because interest on the bonds is tax-exempt, investors can accept lower rates of return from Austal, potentially saving the company tens of millions of dollars on the project.

It is unclear whether Austal could maintain its LCS price if its GO Zone borrowing power is allowed to expire Dec. 31.

Austal declined to comment.

Key to extending the LCS deadline to late December, the Navy said, was an agreement from both companies not to change the cost of the ships during the delay.

"The Navy has asked for and received from Lockheed Martin and Austal a limited extension on the prices submitted under the current LCS solicitation," Capt. Cate Mueller, a Navy spokeswoman, said in a written statement.

The U.S. House of Representatives last week passed a budget bill that authorizes the Navy’s dual-buy strategy, but it has yet to make it through the Senate.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services committee, last week expressed opposition to fast-track approval of the Navy’s LCS acquisition plan.

But Bonner said in his Monday statement that he thinks there is enough political support from both parties for the authorization to pass this year. Its best chance for approval before Dec. 30 is as an amendment to budget bills, Bonner added.

"Frankly, most of Congress is focused on an even tighter deadline. This Saturday, funding runs out for all federal agencies," the statement said. "Unless a budget bill is passed, we could face a government shut down. There is substantial pressure to act quickly."